For the promotion of local economic and industrial
development, the Lee County Commission and the City Council of the City of
Opelika, any other provision of law or of this Constitution notwithstanding,
shall have, independently or in cooperation with one another, full and
continuing power to do any of the following:

(1) Use public funds to purchase, lease, or
otherwise acquire land, or to utilize land heretofore purchased or otherwise
acquired, and improve and develop such land for use as sites for industry of
any kind or as industrial park projects, including, but not limited to, grading
and the construction of roads, drainage, sewers, sewage and waste disposal
systems, parking areas, and utilities to serve such sites or projects.

(2) Lease, sell, grant, exchange, or otherwise
convey, on terms approved by the governing body of the county or the City of
Opelika, as applicable, all or any part of any site or industrial park project
to any individual, firm, corporation, or other business entity, public or
private, including any industrial development board or other public corporation
or authority heretofore or hereafter created by the county or any municipality
therein, for the purpose of constructing, developing, equipping, and operating
industrial, commercial, research, or service facilities of any kind.

(3) Lend its credit to or grant public funds and
things of value in aid of or to any individual, firm, corporation, or other
business entity, public or private, for the purpose of promoting the economic
and industrial development of Lee County or the City of Opelika.

In carrying out the purposes of this amendment,
neither Lee County nor the City of Opelika shall be subject to Sections 93 or
94 of this Constitution. Each public corporation heretofore created by Lee
County or by the City of Opelika, including specifically any industrial
development board incorporated under Chapter 54, Article 4, Title 11 of the
Code of Alabama 1975, and any industrial development authority incorporated or
reincorporated under Chapter 92A, Title 11 of the Code of Alabama 1975, is
validated and the powers granted to such board or authority under its
respective enabling legislation are validated notwithstanding any other
provision of law or of this Constitution. The powers granted in this amendment
may be exercised as an alternative to, or cumulative with, and in no way
restrictive of, powers otherwise granted by law to the county, or to any
municipality, or to any agency, board, or authority created pursuant to the
laws of this state.

Neither Lee County nor the City of Opelika shall
lend its credit to or grant any public funds or thing of value to or in aid of
any private entity under the authority of this amendment unless prior thereto:
(i) the action proposed to be taken by Lee County or the City of Opelika is
approved at a public meeting of the governing body of the county or city, as
the case may be, by a resolution containing a determination by such governing
body that the expenditure of public funds for such purpose will serve a valid
and sufficient public purpose, notwithstanding any incidental benefit accruing
to any private entity or entities; and (ii) at least seven days prior to the
public meeting, a notice is published in the newspaper having the largest
circulation in the county or in the city, as the case may be, describing in
reasonable detail the action proposed to be taken, a description of the public
benefits sought to be achieved by such action, and identifying each individual,
firm, corporation, or other business entity to whom or for whose benefit the
county or the city proposes to lend its credit or grant public funds or thing
of value. For purposes of the foregoing, any sale, lease, or other disposition
of property for a price equal to the fair market value thereof shall not constitute
the lending of credit or a grant of public funds or thing of value in aid of a
private entity. (Amendment 642; Proposed by Acts 98-379 and 98-400, submitted
at the Nov. 3, 1998, election, and proclaimed ratified Jan. 6, 1999, Proclamation Register No. 9, p. 387).